Ranma of the Sand
by Khortez
Summary: Ranma is accidently summoned into the Sand Village during the middle of an assassination attempt on the Kazekage's life. Now Ranma is stuck in a world that he is unused facing challenges that put all previous ones to shame.
1. Prologue

Ranma of the Sand

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and in fact, Naruto and Ranma seem to own me. Seriously though, they are owned by Kishimoto and Takahashi respectively.

"….." denotes speech

_Italics _denotes thought

The sun was barely noticeable on the horizon, serving to barely light the tips of the building in the Sand Village. The only people out were the sand ninjas that guarded the walls on the entrance to the village or the drunks who were slowly and laboriously making their way home to their angry wives. Yet in the quiet, foul murder was being plotted by two men dressed in the standard sand ninja garb.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Tobio asked his scarred partner while keeping a vigilante eye out for any of the guards.

Akame lifted his gaze from the scrolls in front of him to glare at the bald man. "No, we shouldn't be doing this, but if we want to be more than mere agents to Akatsuki than this is the only way to do it." Sighing, he got a pair of binoculars from one of the pouches and passed it to Tobio. "Make sure the way is clear."

Grunting his acknowledgement, Tobio pressed the binoculars to his eyes ignoring blood from the guards whose equipment they had looted. Scanning their pre-arranged path, he noted that the path was indeed clear. Grimacing that their apparent luck, he looked back toward his fellow conspirator and waited for him to finish packing up.

Akame, after was seemed like an eternity to the both of them, finally stood up and nodded. The binoculars fell from Tobio's hand, and before the binoculars even made it half way to the floor, they were gone, with two corpses being their only witnesses.

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Ranma was having a very boring day so far. The morning had started out decently enough, but instead of having some miso, which Kasumi knew he loved, she instead decided to try her hands on some western dishes like scrambled eggs and french toast. It was delicious none-the-less, but he would have preferred miso. After that it was a mad dash to the school, a beat down on all things Kuno, and the mind numbing bore that was school. The only thing that was making this day passable was the duel he had planned with Mousse later.

Still, it wasn't much of a duel anyways. Mousse had reached a plateau a while ago, and their fights were getting mostly repetitive. In fact, a training trip might be in order in a while. He really hadn't spent any time training recently, and the downtime was boring the shit out of him. _Besides_, he thought, _it won't be like I'm missing much here. Nabiki is leaving at the end of the year, and Akane is starting to look at colleges to apply to. I still don't know if I want to go, after all I barely even care about my grades now, what's to make me start caring about them later?_

Groaning, Ranma snapped back to reality when Ms. Hinako called him to answer the question on the board. Lifting his head from his desk where it was cradled in his arms he glanced at the board. There was some math equation up there that he really couldn't understand, or care to understand anyways.

"Twelve," he guessed randomly hoping that she would just let him get back to his thoughts.

"You are correct Ranma," answered the child-form of Ms. Hinako brightly.

That got his attention, perhaps he was better at this school thing than he though.

"What… really?" he asked just to make sure.

"Happo Goju-en Satsu!" she cried which answered his question as he felt his energy being slowly sucked out of him.

"No Mr. Saotome, the answer was three seventeenths, and you would know that if you were paying attention. You really should start concentrating more on this or else you're going no where in life," Hinako lectured him as he gladly let exhaustion claim him and greeted the Sandman.

_I wonder why they call sleep that…_ was his last though before he lost consciousness.

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It wasn't too hard to get past the guards around the Kazekage's tower. The Sand's forces were spread out too thinly doing whatever missions they could get their hands on, to properly guard their leader. It was a testament to how much their attack on the Leaf had cost them, and the slow attrition due to the Wind Country's negligence of them.

Akame and Tobio had no difficulty stealthily getting to the Kazekage's room, who at this time would still be asleep and an easy target to those wanting the power of the bijuu. With their kunai out, they walked toward the highly ornamented door with the symbol of the Sand on it, and slid the door open.

"You made a mistake thinking that you would leave the Sand with your lives," the Kazekage, Gaara of the Sand, said while still being seated at his desk. "Especially considering that you already murdered two of my men."

Akame, cursing loudly, reached for some explosive notes and hurled them straight at the Kazekage's desk. "Tobio, distract him while I get the scroll ready," he commanded while reaching for the scrolls in his pack.

Shaking, Tobio put his kunai away and started performing seal. "Dammit, you said he was going to be asleep. He's a fucking jinchuuriki! We could die!"

"You're right, you both will die," Gaara intoned calmly still seated in his desk with a gourd by his side. Then the room exploded.

"EARTH ELEMENT: ROCK LODGEMENT DESTRUCTION!" Tobio yelled as he slammed his hands on the ground causing the ceiling to collapse on the area over the desk. Not wasting time, he quickly moved to perform more hand seals and with of "EARTH ELEMENT: SPLITTING EARTH FORCE!" the ground cracked and moved to swallow and crush the Kazekage.

Panting, Tobio stood in the crumbling room at the ready half watching to see if Akame was ready with the scroll, half waiting for Gaara to stumble out of the wreckage.

"Goddammit, hurry up Akame! I took him down, now hurry before he gets up!"

"Almost ready! Just watch to make sure that he doesn't interrupt…there done!" he cried with a grin as he got his chakra ready to power the seal.

With his chakra gathered, Akame moved to activate the scroll seal when he was abruptly stopped by an intense pressure coming from the other side of the room as the dust exploded outwards revealing Gaara standing there with the sand holding him over the floor and shielding him from the wreckage in the ceiling. Dust, papers, rocks, and ink flew toward both of them as the area around Gaara cleared.

A yelp help drive their attention to the bald man desperately trying to perform another jutsu. With a casual movement, Gaara extended an open hand toward the man who was quickly encased in sand and screaming. The fist closed, the screaming stopped, and red mist floated through the room.

The droplets of blood splattered all over his face brought Akame out of his trance, and quickly putting Tobio's fate out of his mind, he pressed his palms over the scroll, to discover to his horror that the ink and the blood had changed the seal.

As the scroll started growing brighter, his vision got obscured by sand. He couldn't bring himself to care as the darkness consumed him. The last words he heard were the muffled "Desert Coffin" as the sandman consumed him.

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He woke up to the not so gentle shaking by his uncute fiancée. She was muttering something he really couldn't make out. Groaning, he brought himself back firmly to the land of the living, and looked toward the concerned face of Akane.

"Seriously Ranma, you shouldn't be so apathetic toward school, or what else are you going to do with the rest of your life?" she questioned him, mirroring what Ms Hinako had told him earlier.

"You know what Akane, I don't know, I really don't know," he answered her while staggering to his feet. He still hadn't fully recovered from Hinako's energy drain, and almost tripped if Akane hadn't caught him at the nick of time.

"Geez, you'd also think that she would keep you awake so you could actually learn something too," she giggled as Ranma mocked glared at her. "Now just lean on me as we walk to lunch."

"Now just what kind of man needs a woman to help him walk around," he asked her while pushing himself off of her and slowly getting his balance into place.

"The kind that turns into a girl with cold water," she muttered darkly. However, she quickly grew more concerned as Ranma noticeably struggled to remain upright. "You sure you don't need help?"

"Nah, all I need is some food and I'll be back to normal. Just as long as it's not food you cooked, or I'll probably die!" he laughed at his little joke as he stood up right and puffed his chest out, only to stop as he felt a sense of impeding danger standing right behind him. Turning around he smiled weakly at his glaring fiancée as he sweat-dropped heavily.

"Well if you're healthy enough to crack jokes, then you're healthy enough to walk to lunch on your own," she growled walking toward the door. Once there she stopped and turned to him. "Are you coming or not?"

"Yea, sure," he answered cautiously as his body glowed brightly and suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Blinking in shock, Akane looked around the room for any signs of the pigtailed martial artist. Seeing all the windows closed and the only entrance being blocked by her, she stood there in a stupor.

"Ranma….," she whispered at last to the empty air.

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He blinked, that was all he could do. One moment he was in the classroom with Akane heading out to lunch, the next he was… here, in this room with a hole in the ceiling, in the floor allowing you to see the room below, holes all around the walls leading outside, rubble all around, 2 huge piles of sand, the smell of blood, and a red-haired kid. He chose to focus on the kid, with the sand floating all around him, all other details being ignored for the moment. Something was nagging at him that this didn't feel right, that there was something very wrong going on in this room, but he couldn't for the life of him figure it out.

He was about to do another, more thorough, scan of the room when fear suddenly assaulted him like never before. It clutched at his heart and stopped his body from working. His eyes quickly found the source, the raccoon eyed boy. _Damn! Damn, damn, damn, damn! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die….. what is this, who is this kid? He doesn't look more than fifteen, and yet, I'm scared of him, why? Why can't my body move? Damn, I'm still weak, I'm gonna die, why can't I fight back?... I'm gonna die! NO! I can't die, I won't die, not here, not ever!_

Steeling himself, Ranma tried to fight off this irrational fear, and succeeded only in moving his body back, crawling backwards toward the wall through one of the huge piles of sand. His hands met the rough texture of the sand, and an odd, wet, sticky, smooth thing which his mind immediately labeled as 'wrong' and refused to analyze it any further. Instinctively, he knew what it was, he just couldn't deal with it right now, however, his instincts took over and the idea of fighting wasn't even entertained. He quickly turned around and made a mad dash toward one of the holes in the wall upsetting the rubble and causing it to fall to the ground. Unfortunately, the shrieks that emerged quickly showed him his mistake, as a crowd of villagers had gathered to see what had happened with the Kazekage in his tower.

The fear was instantly replaced by a different feeling, one that suited him better. Finally using the skills he was famous for, he spotted a little girl that was running toward falling rubble unknowingly, probably not understand what was going on with the crowd. Without hesitation he threw himself out the window and using everything he knew of mid air combat, made himself fall faster, only barely passing the falling stones. The ground cracked under him, but he was only focused on the girl, and in an instant he knocked her down and with gritted teeth and closed eyes braced himself to be hit as he shielded her.

When nothing happened, he opened his eyes and saw the confused face of an eight year old girl staring right back at him. Looking up, he saw that all the stones were being held in the air by large chunks of sand. Even further than that, he saw the red haired kid floating down on a sand cloud face as impassive as ever, however no fear stabbed at him this time.

"Lord Gaara," the little girl muttered, and he followed her eyes to the guy who had barely made landfall.

Then there was a sudden influx of sand and he was forced to close his eyes. When the wind died down, he opened them to find that he was surrounded by a veritable army wearing basically the same uniform. They all had their eyes on the kid… Gaara, is what the girl called him, who had his eyes on him.

"Take care of the bodies in my study. Study whatever remains of them, I want to know where they came from. Find the two they killed and give them a proper burial," Gaara commanded, and surprisingly some of the uniformed men obeyed. However his words finally struck home, and he consciously knew what exactly the stains were on his clothes now.

Pushing himself off the girl, he threw up and let himself lose consciousness for the second time that day.

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Staring at the pigtailed youth, Gaara almost missed the flinch the group gave when the he suddenly moved. However he was no threat, and within moments he was unconscious.

His next target was the little girl who was still sprawled on the floor. Walking up to her he knelt down next to her and gently helped her to her feet. When she finally stood up, she beamed at him and ran off to do whatever it was little girls do at this early hour.

Finally noticing the looks his subordinates where giving the unconscious kid, he addressed them. "Get a medic-nin, and have two guards stationed outside the room." Looking around the crowd he spotted his sibling and beckoned him forward. "Kankuro, I want you to keep an eye on him in the room. He came with the group that tried to assassinate me, yet he protected the girl. I want to know who he is and where he's from. Find out where he's from, and try to be gentle, as far as we know he is no enemy."

Kankuro nodded at his brother's odd request, but was going to follow his orders to the letter. He was moving toward the unconscious youth when his brother called out to him once more.

"One more thing Kankuro, I'm going to borrow your room, mine appears to be broken. Make yourself comfortable somewhere else for a while."


	2. Chapter 1

Ranma of the Sand

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and in fact, Naruto and Ranma seem to own me.

"….." denotes speech

_Italics _denotes thought

It was several hours later when Ranma forced his eyes to open, vividly recalling the last thing he had seen. It was too real to be a dream, and just seeing the texture of the ceiling confirmed his suspicions. He wasn't in Nerima anymore, though all he could really think about was how the red haired kid, Gaara he remembered, had scared the living shit out of him. He could still feel it, the crippling fear that had taken over him, prevented him from moving, had left him as weak and defenseless as he had been under the moxibution and more than anything that pissed him off. No one made Ranma Saotome feel like that, no one.

The anger faded all too quickly though. _Why did he kill the others yet leave me alive? _he wondered to himself still staring at the ceiling. He knew he had crawled over a corpse at some point, the blood, chunks of skin, bone, all mixed in with the sand…

He shuddered and quickly ended that train of thought. Death was an ever present part of martial arts, it could happen at anytime and place, which is why he trained as hard as he did, to lessen the chance of an accident happening. His father had drilled how dangerous martial arts were ever since he was old enough to understand. Furthermore, the martial arts were now considered an art form, a form of exercise and sport, but it used to be used for actual combat. No one had ever come at him with a true intent to kill him though, other than Saffron. But, even then, he didn't want to kill him, he had been forced to do it in order to save Akane.

He sat up on the bed, noticing that he was only dressed in his undershirt and boxers. _What happened to my clothes... _he wondered. _Oh, that's right. Damn. Guess they threw them away or something._

The door opened to allow a youth about his own age in. He was dressed completely in black, with a black hat with pointy tips, a metal plate with a symbol covering his forehead, and white face paint broken with purple lines strategically placed. He carried something wrapped in cloth on his back with only hair showing from the top. In his hands he carried two juice boxes and threw them toward Ranma.

"Take it, it should wash the aftertaste out of your mouth," he smirked as he set the bundle on his back in the corner of the room. Grabbing a near by chair, he placed it next to Ranma's bed, and sat on it, with his chest leaning against the part ordinarily supporting the back.

Getting the little straw out of its packaging and through the hole, Ranma observed the guy's relaxed and friendly posture. Something seemed off about him and his bundle, but they gave him juice and didn't kill him while he slept, meaning that he didn't have to worry about it at the moment.

"Where am I?" he finally got around to asking after taking a few sips, idly noting that it still had the aftertaste of vomit. Those eggs really didn't taste so good coming out. Miso probably would have been more tolerable.

The black-clad youth stared at him for a while, raising an eyebrow and increasing his smirk.

"You don't know?" he asked while purposefully readjusting the metal over his forehead. "You are in the Village Hidden by the Sand, within the Country of the Wind."

"Which part of Japan is that exactly?" Ranma questioned while opening his second juice box. It didn't have nearly as much of a vomit aftertaste as the previous one. This guy knew what he was talking about.

"I don't understand what you mean. Are you from a village called Japan?" the bewildered ninja asked.

"Right," Ranma drawled as he stared balefully at the guy. "This wouldn't happen to be a secluded village in the middle of China would it?"

The capped man just stared back at him, his already lifted eyebrow disappearing behind his forehead protector.

"Yeah, I thought not," he muttered to himself. His stomach choose that brief pause to remind him that it had been emptied, and he better be able to refill it or face the consequences.

Chuckling, the man beckoned Ranma towards him as he walked to a closet that was partially hidden due to it looking almost exactly like the wall. Inside there was a variety of cloths, mostly shirts and pants, with the occasional robe, trench coat, and fishnet clothing. Most bizarre was that there was a pack full of throwing knives near where the sandals were placed. Discarding the oddity, he picked out a darkish red shirt, whose sleeves stopped around mid-forearm, some black pants, and after some hesitation, pair of sandals. He wasn't used to wearing them, but it seemed to be the fashion around here, as there was no other footwear to choose from.

The guy, who was eyeing him carefully as he choose his clothes, seemed to relax slightly when he finished picking his sandals. "So, you never told me your name. It isn't a custom here to eat with strangers."

"It's Ranma Saotome. You?"

"Kankuro. Now with that done, I know a place that serves some great beef." With that having been said, he went over to pick up the bundle and walked out. Ranma, with no other recourse, just followed him.

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It wasn't much later when Kankuro led Ranma to the Kazekage's Tower, where a construction crew was busy at work. Leaving Ranma in a lobby area, discreetly covered by some shinobi, he walked toward the Sand's Council Room. Inside were the statues of the previous Kazekages, some of the village elders, the captain of the guards, the captain of intelligence, and the Kazekage, Gaara of the Desert. He knelt by the door until they finished discussing the day to day affairs of the Sand Village. It was only when they all looked expectantly towards him, awaiting his report on the new-comer that he stood and moved. The bundle on his back burst apart to reveal his true body, and the sand fell from the body before him revealing the hidden puppet. The puppet then vanished and was replaced in a scroll which he placed on his back.

Yuura, the captain of the guard, spoke first. He had the typical council robes on, with the both ceremonial and practical headdress, and his bangs covered his right eye.

"What were you able to find out about our… guest?" he asked, finishing the last part with an unreadable look toward the Kazekage.

Grimacing Kankuro walked toward a window and leaned back against the wall next to it, affording him a view of both the outside, if he turned his head slightly, and the council and statues.

"Not much I'm afraid. He said his name was Ranma Saotome. Just by looking at the way he carries himself and walks, you can tell he is a fighter, of what caliber, I don't know. However, if the speed he eats his food is any indication, he is fast. I couldn't get very much out of him during lunch, he ate too much and too fast for there to be any meaningful conversation." Pausing to let the information sink in to the assembly, he took a quick look outside, seeing the village against the light of the sinking sun. It really was quite a sight. Returing his gaze to the meeting, he continued, "He is not a ninja though. He passed on the kunai when they were presented to him, and at lunch I gave him several opportunities to kill me and run away. I took him to the restaurant by the wall," he clarified.

"Anyways, he also didn't know which village he was in. I don't think he was playing stupid either. He kept asking about the countries of China and Japan. I haven't heard of any of them, so I don't believe him to be working with the assassins. Whether he is a threat or not, I still haven't decided." Kankuro concluded with mild distaste, not used to being rather vague in a questioning. Most of the council was rather disappointed with his lack of information.

Gaara, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed at all by it. Instead, he turned to his information expert and asked, "Idro, what can you tell me of the scroll that brought him here?"

Idro, a man that had seemingly spent too much time in the sun, with his wind beaten face look toward the man that all here had feared at one point or another. Most still did for that matter. "The scroll itself still has some ink left on it, which is strange enough on its own, but by the marking we were able to find that its main purpose wasn't summoning. The ink that mixed in with the scroll changed it. From what we were able to find out, it was some sort of sealing, of which kind, we don't know."

Gaara nodded, as did most of the council and then proceeded to stand up. "This meeting is now over. Yuura, Kankuro, come with me, Idro, keep investigating that scroll. If you hit a dead end, we'll ask for aid from Konoha. They wanted to use it on me, so I want to know what it does. It could also affect the jinchuuriki in Konoha, so they'll want to know and help us out on this. You are all dismissed."

The council all bowed toward the Kazekage and waited for him to leave, before they all started leaving as well. When Baki, Gaara's former teacher, moved to leave, he was stopped by Idro.

Looking around to see that everyone had already left, Idro moved to stand before the statues of the Kazekages, particularly the Fourth, Gaara's father.

"I lied to the Kazekage. We have an idea of what the seal is. It's a seal meant to cut off Gaara from the Shukaku, so that his ultimate defense falls. We don't know what would happen to Gaara, but we expect that his chakra would be crippled, or that he would die. They meant to capture or kill him for some reason. Either way, Gaara's mind would be utterly destroyed. He would cease to exist."

Astounded, Baki looked toward the man. "Idro, this is treason what you did. He is the Kazekage, and if I need to remind you, you choose him to lead."

"I know," Idro responded looking solemn. "However, he is still dangerous. He is a weapon that we cannot control. Making him Kazekage was just so that we could increase our already shaky grip on him, and thankfully he agreed to what we proposed. Should the Shukaku ever emerge from within his body, he could destroy the village and every single one of us. It is for this reason that I have hidden it. Once it is done, I shall give the completed scroll to you. You know more about him than anyone else, save his siblings, and they wouldn't agree to do this at all. For the sake of the village, you must be prepared to do this should the need arise."

Baki, the left side of his face covered by a cloth stared at the face of the Fourth. He was only assigned to be the jounin in Gaara's team because he was the most accomplished assassin in the Sand. At any moment he was ready to kill Gaara if he became too much of a liability. Recently though, he had seen a change in the young man; gone was the murderous rage, gone was his hatred towards all people, and the young man that was still alive proof enough that Gaara no longer had a sick pleasure in murder.

Locking eyes with the cold gaze of the statues, he paused and waged an internal war. With a forced calm, he forced his gaze towards Idro's and nodded. The calm expression in his face belied the internal anguish that scourged his soul. He was the only one in the council who Gaara trusted implicitly, and the only one that believed him to be more than just a monster. He was a ninja though, and according to the teachings of the Sand, he had to keep the village's interests above his own, no matter how he felt about it. The blood flowing from his clenched hands were the only tears he shed.

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He was slightly annoyed at having to wait for Kankuro to do whatever it was that he had to do. He had been told that this is where they might solve his problem, so he had expected an old hag to walk out, say some magic words and poof him back home. Had they done that though? No, they made him wait in the lobby. So half an hour after being brought here, he was lying down on a couch with his hands battling each other. The index and middle fingers where doing the kicking and punching, the thumb was responsible for throwing the other, and the ring and pinky were taking all the cheap shots they could find. It was to this sight that Gaara, Yuura, and Kankuro found Ranma.

With the sudden distraction of visitors, the right hand took the lead, attacking the suddenly defenseless left, and pinning it to the floor to a five count.

"Yeesh, had you taken any longer my feet would have gotten into the action." Ranma half complained when he turned around to face Kankuro. He abruptly stood up and placed himself in a semi-defensive posture at spotting the red haired kid, Gaara, behind him and another man. None of them seemed to be the least bit concerned though, the three of them sharing a knowing look.

"So you are proficient in taijutsu at least," said the man that Ranma hadn't seen yet. Giving Ranma the once-over, he didn't seem much impressed. "How good are you in ninjutsu and genjutsu?" he further inquired.

"Ninjutsu and genjutsu? I know wall climbing, ceiling crawling, and I fought some ninja's before, but they didn't have any impressive techniques other than the clone jutsu."

At this Kankuro had to give out a chuckle. "Those must have been some lame ninjas. Here, one of the first techniques you learn is the clone jutsu. Any academy student can perform it, unless they were an idiot of the highest degree." He continued laughing until he felt the anger radiating from his brother. _Wait why would he get… _Kankuro wondered. _Oh that's right, Naruto said he sucked at it during the Chuunin exams. Damn, note to self, never make fun of the blond brat again._ A few hesitant titters exited his mouth, until they too were slowly killed off.

Ranma only half noted the brother's antics as he realized that this was a ninja village. Not only that, but they were obviously of a higher quality than Konatsu and his aunts. They also didn't have any compunctions against killing if Gaara was any example. Speaking of the red haired kid, Ranma took a good look at him. He was simply dressed in a brown robe with white lining around the neck, and a tattoo with the word love over his left eye. He wasn't as menacing as Ranma remembered him being earlier. Narrowing his eyes, he still felt as if something was off with the kid, but he couldn't realize what it was. He felt that way originally with Kankuro, but it was gone now, as was the thing on his back as well. Odd that.

"So, I take it that you all know that I am not from around here, right?" he asked them flippantly. It was partly to ease some tension in the room, especially from that one man with the bangs, and partially to get to the main point of his being here.

Gaara stepped forward past Kankuro and the other man. He made direct eye contact with Ranma, and it took a lot of effort from Ranma not to flinch. Needless to say he wasn't pleased by being intimidated by a kid, no matter if he was an experienced killer. "We know about your current condition, and we have people working on it. Truthfully, we don't know how long it will take to work out how you got here, or to even find you a way back home. Be assured, that if our village can't figure it out, we will consult our allies in this matter. Most pressing on my mind however, is repaying you for saving that little girl."

Ranma had to blink at that, the kid that was slightly intimidating him was going to repay him for saving the girl? His face must have betrayed him to the others because Kankuro immediately said, "He is the Kazekage, our leader, and the strongest ninja of the Sand Village. He feels indebted to you for saving a villager."

"Wha…. but I didn't save that girl, he did. He stopped those rocks in mid-air. Now that I think about it, how did he do that? He was controlling sand, is that some sort of jutsu I can learn?"

Giving a slight smirk, Gaara said, "That is how I was going to repay you. Yuura here is going to train you in the basics of our ninja techniques. It is the most I can do for you. This world is dangerous, so we have to be even more dangerous to survive in it. As the attack earlier today proved, even here in the city we are not safe. We could use more ninjas if you are interested, until we find a way to get you back home."

"Not sure on the ninja thing, but I'm always open to learning new things," Ranma smirked confidently as he stared at Yuura. Ready was the only word that could properly describe the man. He looked tough too, and far be it for any man to say that Ranma didn't enjoy a challenge.

Yuura, gave Gaara a guarded look, then looking back toward Ranma gave a superior grin. "Let's see if you are even worth giving the offer too. You're probably only a genin rank. Very well then, let's go to the academy where I can give you some formal training on what we as ninja's are capable of."

With that they left the Kazekage Tower.

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It took only a few moments of jumping from the sides of the spires that made up the Sand Village for Yuura to take back his previous comment. The kid was very capable at least physically, but there was more to being a ninja that only being good at taijutsu.

Finally landing by the side of a small cliff he jumped directly into it, and Ranma followed. There were some dummies set up on a flat portion of ground, targets were lined up on the cliff wall, a swing set, some soccer goal posts, and a bench near the dummies. Seeing as how Yuura motioned him to sit, he went to the bench and lied down on his side.

Lifting an eyebrow to the curious position, Yuura began to lecture, "Chakra is needed to perform all ninjutsu and genjutsu. Chakra is the combination of body energy, come from the cells in your body, and spiritual energy, the experience of combat and practice. You convert your stamina to chakra, and perform the jutsu and –" he cut off seeing Ranma's arm raise.

"Wait, from what you just said, isn't spiritual energy not energy at all? Isn't just knowing how to basically perform the jutsu and having practiced it before all that spiritual energy is?" Ranma wondered, most of this resonating with what he already knew prior to coming.

"Yes, you caught on to that quick. It is one of the basic ways we confuse our unwary students who have no right to become ninjas at all. All the energy comes from our stamina, but we have to know how to convert our energy properly or we end up losing stamina, which is why it's important. You don't want to waste all you energy just to perform a simple jutsu," Yuura explained. It seemed as if the youth wasn't ignorant to the ninja's ways.

"About the chakra, you control it by the use of an emotion right? To give it some density?"

Slightly perplexed about the unusual question, Yuura answered, "No, to control the chakra we use hand seals. There are twelve of them, the rat, ox, tiger, ram, hare, serpent, dragon, horse, monkey, dog, bird, and boar," he said as he demonstrated each in turn. "We use combinations of these seals to control the flow of chakra within our bodies and expel them in varying forms. With enough practice with any jutsu, the seals become unnecessary as your body already knows the required amount of chakra to use. Any questions on this so far? This is the basic foundation of what you'll learn from me."

When Ranma shook his to head to signify that he did indeed understand what he had just been told, Yuura continued. "Alright, I'm going to perform the clone jutsu for you a couple of times. It is one of the basic three techniques any beginner knows, but you'll probably have some difficulty with them," he taunted, wanting to see if the young man would fall for the bait.

Ranma did indeed rise to the challenge, his head perking up and his eyes never leaving Yuura's hands as he performed the seals for the clone jutsu. Where there was previously only one man, now stood four, all of them identical. Being encouraged to strike the one on the far left by all four of them, Ranma picked up a nearby stone and chucked it at it. The stone flew right through it, and that image of Yuura disappeared, like a mirage. Two of the remaining Yuuras smirked and launched themselves straight at him, one aiming a kick toward his face, the other a body blow to his liver. Not having the proper time to dodge both attacks, Ranma settled into a defensive posture, only to have both attackers go through his defenses, disappear half way through his body.

Throwing down his defenses, Ranma settled for glaring at his pseudo teacher as the man started to openly laugh as he lazily performed the seals again. This time, the three clones that materialized launched themselves toward him and started circling around him. Keeping in mind what happened to the other clones, Ranma braced himself and launched a roundhouse kick at the Yuura who was currently circling from his left. His foot went through the immaterial illusion and it disappeared.

Smiling to himself, Ranma ignored the other two clones and sprinted toward the real one. Yuura, with deliberate calmness, performed a different set of seals and then just simply waited in place. Ranma knew something was up, but was curious to see what the new jutsu was supposed to do, so he fully committed to the attack. Yuura stayed where he was and Ranma felt his fist connect to his hard wooden jaw…

_Wait a minute..wooden? _Ranma wondered as what he thought to be Yuura turned into one of the nearby training dummies. Looking around he saw that the real one was leaning against another training dummy located on the left. Remembering how the field was before, when they first had arrived, he deduced that the dummy with the shattered jaw had been situated near where his pseudo-teacher current was standing.

"That was the body replacement jutsu," he said as he walked toward the bench. "It is a good way to dodge any attack and have time to prepare a counter attack. With the seconds you get while the enemy looks for you, you can prepare another jutsu to attack him with. This final technique is a simple transformation jutsu. With it you can become any person or object. It's mostly useful for espionage, so if you leave, you probably won't have much of a use for it." He performed the seals necessary and turned into a mirror image of Ranma. After a second or two, he returned to looking like himself. "I'll be around if you need me, just give a shout. In the meantime I have to see how the village's defenses are like in this area." He disappeared in a cloud of sand shortly after finishing.

With nothing left to do, Ranma was left to practice what he had just learned.

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Yuura didn't go far, only above the top of the cliff, where he was out of sight of Ranma, but he could keep an eye on everything he did. It wasn't that he didn't trust Ranma, which he didn't, he was only doing his job. Gaara had been quite specific on what he was to do.

He was to monitor all of their guest's actions to gauge his abilities and skills. He was also to verify that he wasn't an enemy, or wait up until he revealed himself as one. If that was the case, he was supposed to kick him out the village, but he had worked far too hard and for too long to safeguard this village to allow any enemy to leave unharmed. If the need arose, he was ready to kill the man.

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Ranma felt a slight chill crawl up his spine for some reason, making the bright sunny day suddenly seem cold and oppressive. The feeling soon passed, and Ranma worked to push it off his mind. That Yuura guy just taught him some pretty interesting things, most of which he didn't know at all. However, he also knew from personal experience with Konatsu that seals weren't needed for the clone jutsu.

_Yuura did say that the seals were for channeling the chakra properly. Maybe when you get used to it, you don't need the seals anymore. This method of channeling energy isn't what I'm used to at all. It seems more refined, more efficient than what my pop and Cologne had taught me. I wonder why?_ Ranma thought to himself. _I wonder what is up with this world if ninja villages are this big, and their techniques are better than the ones at home._ This was most pressing on his mind at the moment, but not that big a deal considering that he would probably be heading back home soon.

Shrugging the thoughts away, Ranma cleared his mind of all thoughts, except what he had learned from Yuura and the seals he had learned. According to him, for a jutsu to work properly, he would have to know exactly how much energy to put into it, and be able to channel it properly. That's probably where the seals come in, to help channel energy, at least until you could subconsciously do it without the crutch. All these thoughts were simply theories at the moment, and to prove them, he'd have to actually put the work it, which he was more than glad to do.

Concentrating, he attempted to gather his ki, his chakra, only without using confidence to make the energy heavy. It was a lot harder than he expected. Every time he felt like he got it, his confidence would surge and infect the chakra rendering useless to him. There had to be something he was missing, since it seemed like Yuura didn't have a problem keeping the emotions out of his chakra. In fact, he seemed puzzled when he had asked him that question. Alright, so he deduced it was less like the Mouko Takabisha, more like the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. That means that less concentrating the energy outwards, and more of leaving it inwards.

_How would that make the clones, or replace my body with something? Leaving the energy in for the transformation does make sense, but it doesn't so much for the other two techniques. Am I supposed to believe that making the seals will automatically control the flow of my chakra?_ Ranma thought derisively. Gathering the energy inwards, he performed the seals mostly off handedly as to prove to himself that this wouldn't work. To his utter surprise, he felt the energy start moving within him, and leave, forming a single clone next to him. The clone was slightly transparent, but it dissuaded Ranma of trying to figure out how the seals worked, and to simply trust that they did. Theories could come in later, for now, he had to practice the more practical side of it.

Taking the moment to study the clone, Ranma noted some more minor discrepancies. As well as being slightly transparent, the clone seemed to blur near the extremities of his arms and legs. His face was also rather difficult to make out.

Feeling something pulling at the edge of his awareness, he tugged back at it and saw that the clone disappeared and he gained some of his energy back. No much, but he hadn't used much to begin with either. Trying again, this time with more energy, resulted in a much smoother, more 'real' looking clone. However, it wasn't moving or doing anything at all. Concentrating on that awareness of the clone that he had in his mind, he mentally ordered it to move and start running around the field. As he half expected, the clone did just that. Still he wasn't satisfied, having only produced one viable clone. He needed at least three more to catch up to Yuura.

Releasing the clone jutsu, he gathered even more energy and did the seals. He felt all of the energy move, though he knew that some of it got wasted. He didn't know how, but he felt the amount gathered in his four perfect clones and knew that the amount of energy he used was greater than the energy currently in those four. Dismissing the thought for the moment, he set himself to control the actions of the clones.

It was a rough start at first, but soon, he had all the clones moving about performing some katas and mock fighting each other. Noticing that he hadn't moved at all though, he started performing a kata himself, but noticed that the rest of the clones' performances suffered as a result of his split attention. He stopped for a moment, to think about the problem, and then summoned the clones to stand a few feet away from him and each other. He then started performing a kata, and had all of them do it with him. After making sure that each of them was doing it correctly, he then had one start up a different kata in mid kick. Another clone forwent a block and responded with a punch as he set off in a different pattern. Soon, all the clones were performing different maneuvers and Ranma was still performing the original kata to perfection. Changing kata slightly effected the clones, but it soon passed.

_That was harder than I thought. Multi-tasking is such a bitch. It would probably be impossible to do more than ten at a time for anyone. Still that problem earlier with the wasted chakra is bugging me. I guess I haven't found the right amount of stamina to convert to chakra for it to be perfect._ Ever the perfectionist, though, Ranma set off to correct whatever mistake he had made in the jutsu.

He was gathering less energy than he did last time, only about four times of what he had used to make the first clone, but then on a hunch he only gathered about three times that amount. He then paid particular attention to how the energy was flowing around him and how it exited his body. Four perfect clones materialized around him. _Heh, guess it wasn't the amount of energy you put into it, but how you molded it. Damn, sometimes I am just too good._ With that confident though, Ranma banished his current clones and then, without the seals, tried to mold his chakra. It was awkward, but he managed to create two perfect clones. It wasn't the four he was hoping for, but he had this jutsu in the bag. It was time to knock down the other two.

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Yuura was impressed. The sight that laid below him was rather impressive. Ranma and his four clones were practicing the most intricate taijutsu style he had ever seen, and all of them were different. Further more, every now and then the clones would throw an illusionary stone at the real one and Ranma would then, without missing a step, replace himself with a dummy as he continued with his move in another location. The fact that he had managed to it without any hand seals spoke volumes about his ability.

Had it not been for the fact that he had seen the youth struggle with the simple jutsus in the beginning he would have been forced to believe that he had known the techniques before arriving at the Sand Village. Now, he knew better. The young man was a genius, one that might even rival those coming out of the Leaf Village. The Sand Village needed this man, and if his supply of chakra was as great as his learning curve…

_Oh wait, never mind, he seems like he's about to burn out. All his clones have started to disappear one by one. Yet he still looks like he wants to continue with the transformation jutsu. Guess I better stop him before he dies or anything. If he does, he won't be any use to the village._ So with his course decided, Yuura, using the body flicker jutsu immediately teleported to the area right next to the swaying Ranma.

"Enough. As it seems like I am your teacher for the moment, it is my duty to inform you that if you attempt to convert any more of your stamina to energy, you run the possibility of dying. It's time for you to rest. Come on, I'll lead you to my place, I have a couch you can sleep on."

Still, Ranma didn't appear to pay attention, and he was already too tired to think properly. Grinning at his dedication, Yuura then made the second mistake of his career.

"Tell you what Ranma, since you're so tired, I'll treat you to dinner. All you can eat. I know this great place where the beef is to kill for."

Ranma instantly revitalized at the promise of a free meal. Locking eyes with Yuura he nodded, and indicated for the man to lead the way. With that, the two bounded away to what would be the first of many miserable meals for Yuura.


	3. Chapter 2

Ranma of the Sand

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own either Naruto or Ranma, and in fact, they seem to own me.

"…" Denotes speech

_Italics_ Denote thoughts

Ranma looked out the window and saw the sun rising over the village. It was a foreign sight to him, this village, with its buildings jutting out from the ground like giant stalactites made from the sands that surrounded them. Just looking outside right now he could make out some indistinct blurs of the ninjas patrolling the city. It was strange, finding a village like this with such capable fighters if what Yuura had told him was correct. They were quite fast he noted, barely being able to make out any features other than the standard uniform he had seen them all wear yesterday. Then there were others that he could only sense briefly, before their presence disappeared from his perceptions entirely.

Just like with the ninjas that were observing him now. He could feel them out there, watching him, yet try as he could he couldn't find any sign of them at all. It frustrated him, it really did. He had spent the last twenty minutes looking out the window and in the apartment for any signs of them, but had turned up nothing. They were mocking him, he was sure of it. Gritting his teeth and shaking his hand into the air in an empty threat he promised to himself that they would pay for mocking him, yes they would.

It really shouldn't have surprised him that much though, considering that they were using that chakra energy Yuura taught him about yesterday. It was incredible what it was capable of and put to shame what he had thought he knew before. The body duplication jutsu for instance was much different from what he had thought. His father had taught him some ninja techniques early on in his childhood, to steal from the local stores for food and not get caught like the body replacement and wall walking. He had though he had a good grasp on them before, but his mock fight with his teacher yesterday he hadn't even been capable of following his movements.

_That speed was incredible,_ he mused to himself, abandoning his search for those damned ninjas. He sat on the sofa, sprawling haphazardly on it and reclining his head to look at the ceiling. _It wasn't just a cheap trick to take cover and run away. He did it right in front of me and I wasn't even able to notice. When I performed the jutsu it was intense, kinda like a rush of speed greater than even the amaguriken training. All I did was think of the object and suddenly, like a rush I was in its place and it was flying toward mine. Nothing like the cheap trick of using cover to block the opponents view of you and leaving some of your clothes in place and running away. This was done in plain view and seemed less for retreating and more for setting up a counterattack. Chakra is incredible; nothing I've learned so far has been like this._

Just remembering that feeling he had yesterday sent a tingle down his spine. Controlling the clones while simultaneously moving at incredibly fast speeds was far beyond what he was used to. The concentration required was intense, but he had literally been able to see through their eyes while his real body had suddenly disappeared only to be replaced with a dummy. It is a shame that the clones weren't real, otherwise they would be far more useful, but maybe that could be achieved. He'd have to ask Yuura about that later. Speaking of which, he hoped that his new sensei would come back with some more food. That meat yesterday had been especially great and filling, restoring his energy back to peak efficiency after his experimentation with the new jutsus. He still hadn't been able to practice the transformation jutsu, and he wasn't about to start now, especially with those arrogant jerks looking over his shoulder and probably mocking him in his shortcomings. Besides, he remembered the seals, he'd be able to practice later, and perhaps even solve that problem with his curse. _Hmm, no more turning into a girl, if even if I do, I could change myself back into a man. Bet Ryouga would be pissed off and come at me in a fit of righteous vengeance. Heh, not like it would be useful to him at all though, since he wouldn't be able to do it in his cursed form. _His expression suddenly darkened when he thought of another possible use P-chan would have for it. _That bastard would probably use it to turn into P-chan and sneak into Akane's bed. Guess I won't be teaching that bastard this technique._

Turning his thoughts back to his home, the Tendo dojo, he idly wondered how they were doing without him. Kasumi would probably be oblivious to it all, Nabiki would scheme to find out where he went, Genma and Soun would probably start a search for him but then end up back at the dojo playing shogi, and Akane…_She would probably be in her room wondering what had happened to me. Hell, she would probably go to the old ghoul and demand help. Not that I think that will help her, the old ghoul probably doesn't have any idea of what happened to me, neither would the lecher._ He'd be back to them soon though, in maybe a week he'd be back home showing off whatever new techniques he had picked up here and go back to kicking more ass with more flair. _Still, I hope the tomboy doesn't worry about me too much…_

Sighing, he looked toward the wall that had a picture of a younger looking Yuura standing next to a man that looked like an older version of Gaara. They both looked proud and happy. Next to it was another picture with an extremely younger looking Yuura, maybe at age twelve or something, with two other kids and an older woman. They too looked happy. This was not what he was expecting of a real ninja, trained as killers, to have in their apartment. It seemed less like a lair and more like a comfortable apartment. _I wonder why he decided to become a ninja, there doesn't seem to be any distinguishing moment of his life that changed him to become an assassin. At least, none that I can tell from this apartment, _he considered looking at the room with its quite normal appearance except for the case of weaponry by the guy's bed.

Quickly getting bored by doing nothing, and spotting a shelf full of scrolls, Ranma stood up and walked toward them. They all looked about the same so he just picked one out of random and opened it.

"One Hundred Shinobi Sayings," he read out loud, and a quick glance to the clock, showed him it was currently eight in the morning. Yuura wouldn't be back until around ten. Sitting on the chair in the desk next to the shelf he settled down to learn more of the people that were currently his hosts. Perhaps he would learn how their chakra system worked, he was already close to mastering it anyways, but any bit of help could never hurt.

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At the moment, Yuura felt dead inside. It was a natural reaction to seeing a normal looking human being consume such large quantities of food that even the hedonistic would have been appalled at. Not only that, but his reasonable salary had taken a huge hit due to his new student. He briefly wondered if all his meals would be like that, but then pushed out the horrifying thought out of his mind and focused on the meeting he was currently sitting in. _Still I think I better bring up the idea of a raise for my current assignment, just to be safe._

Looking over the assembly he noticed that Idro was pointing to one of the many handouts that they were given before the meeting. Shuffling over his papers, he finally reached the one currently being shown. It was a picture from a bingo book, one of the missing-nins from the Grass Village, a chuunin.

"-ently Genna is responsible for several attacks on incoming merchant caravans. From what we were able to tell from the remains, it seems he is working alone, and that he is proficient in fire techniques. He is only taking the food he needs and if burning the rest, along with the merchants. The daimyo has asked us to settle the problem and as it stands we would be foolish not to do it. Not only has Genna mocked us by attacking our caravans, but it is an opportune chance for us to analyze the body of the enemy and learn all we can about the Grass Village jutsu. I suggest sending a hunter-nin team to kill him and study the body."

The rest of the council was about to agree on Idro's proposal when Yuura suddenly questioned, "He is a chuunin correct, with no bloodline limit?"

Idro, curious and slightly angry, responded, "Yes, as you would know if you had been paying attention to my briefing, or are you questioning my information?"

Not fazed by the accusation he continued, "Why hasn't he been captured by the Grass' own hunter-nins? He is only a regular chuunin after all."

"Well they are a small village," Idro explained, motioning a map they have with all the locations of all the villages on it. "They mostly depend on the Leaf Village to help them deal with such problems, and the Leaf still hasn't recovered from the attack two years ago, same as us. Besides, the Grass Village is busy picking up the slack with the missions that the Leaf has to give up, so they are far to busy to even consider such a minor problem to them."

"In that case, I ask to undertake this mission with my new charge. With the hunter team in reserve and close behind, once we make the kill."

The council was flabbergasted at the request, but only Gaara's expression never changed. With his ever calm and quiet voice, he addressed the man, "I take it then that you don't believe this man to be a threat to the village, and have accurately measured his capabilities."

A bit sheepish, Yuura silently sweat-dropped but changed his expression back to neutral quickly enough. "No, I haven't fully measured his capabilities, but I've briefly sparred with him and have observed him learning our jutsus." Seeing the unspoken prompt from the council, he continued, "Physically, he is probably in the chuunin range, probably stronger than most ninja I've seen as well. He was able to smash through the jaw of one of our practice dummies, and they are reinforced so that the academy teachers can vent their frustrations at the end of the day without breaking them." At that most of the assembly looked suitably impressed, but Yuura knew that he hadn't sold them on the idea yet, but the next piece of information would make the decision for them. "I taught him the three basic academy jutsus yesterday as well, and he has mastered two of them. I saw him progress from having problems with them, to not needing to use the seals anymore, all in the course of a few hours."

Baki, unofficially speaking for the whole of the gathered, asked "Then I take it you are going to use this assignment to fully evaluate him, and take out a threat to the village at the same time?"

Smiling, Yuura nodded, "Efficient, just as shinobi rule number thirty nine dictates."

An elder spoke out, "So what if it turns out that young Ranma is in fact an enemy spy or a threat? Do you think you are capable of stopping both the chuunin and our current guest at the same time?"

With the calm that one would expect from a man truly versed with his own capabilities Yuura nodded. "You are the ones that choose me as Captain of the Guard, so you all know what I am capable of. If he turns out to be a liability the hunter-nins will be inspecting two bodies."

Gaara, after a few tense moments of staring through the man, nodded his consent, and motioned for the man to leave, which Yuura quickly did. Waiting for a moment, he turned to Idro.

"How are you faring in finding out how our visitor arrived?"

With a quick glance at Baki, he replied, "Not very well, I'm afraid. It is nearly impossible to distinguish what the true purpose of the scroll was, and add to that we also then have to infer what the combination of ink and blood did to change the original intent, and finally we have to find out a way to return him back home. It is going to take a large chunk of the intelligence branch's time, time that is best served determining the whereabouts of our enemies and fortifying our own defenses."

"How many men do you currently have on it?" Gaara asked with a flat stare.

"Only myself, and that is only to determine what manner of attack it was so that we can guard against it in the future," Idro replied smoothly.

"Very well then, you are the best in the Sand Village, I trust that you will give this job your utmost attention. Anyone have any issues that need to be addressed with the council?"

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Ranma was reading through one of the scrolls he had found on Yuura's shelf. It was about some of the more common shinobi weapons. The explosive seals seemed to be too much like Happosai's bombs, and he briefly wondered if this is where he got the idea before dismissing it. It was too far-fetched anyways.

The presence of his unknown watchers was growing more and more annoying as the time went on. _Still, I can't tell where they are. Jutsus require concentration to keep up, so maybe if I shock them they might slip up, but how would I do that?_ Inspiration struck a second later and he headed straight for the kitchen. The unseen eyes followed him there as he grabbed a cup and filled it with cold water. Taking a sip, he casually headed straight back for the couch.

Nonchalantly he took off the red shirt he had over, and was left with only his flimsy undershirt on. Taking a quick guess on where his observer might be, he turned to probably face his direction and quickly upended the glass over his head.

"What the hell?" she heard from her left as she quickly turned, breasts bouncing wildly in her now nearly transparent shirt as a flabbergasted veiled ninja fell unceremoniously from the wall. The ninja was dressed in a reddish bodysuit with his veil being adorned with only the large black symbol of the Sand Village and a few green locks of hair were visible from under his turban.

"Aha! You thought you could hide from me, but no one mocks Ranma Saotome and gets away with it! No one!" she laughed and pointed dramatically, causing her breasts to become more pronounced and subsequently causing the ninja to remain entranced on them and powerless to move. Not that he wanted to anyways, he had a great view. The anbu spy soon got his wits about him again, but unfortunately for him, he was again distracted by the door opening.

"What is all the commotion about?" Yuura queried as he stepped into his home, only to find an exhibitionist redhead mocking some poor rookie from the anbu. No idiot though, he quickly deduced the situation.

"Pretty good transformation jutsu there Ranma, you managed to surprise one of our elite." However he still wasn't acquainted with the full facts. Still, he continued with a smirk, "Either you are a master of surprise, or we have a very perverted rookie in our midst, and no offense to you, but I happen to know for a fact that it is the latter. Now get lost, I don't have a need for you anymore," he said addressing the sprawled ninja.

Said ninja quickly stood back up, and with a nod and disappeared out the window, but not before giving Ranma the one fingered salute.

Shaking with anger, Ranma swore, "He'll get his, no one messes with Ranma and gets away with it."

It took several moments for Yuura to snap out of his daze at seeing a female Ranma doing a very poor impersonation of an evil laugh, and to address his pupil. "Ranma you can release the jutsu. I have an assignment for you."

Stopping mid-laugh Ranma shot a puzzled look at Yuura before comprehension set it. "Yeah, transformation jutsu…right. Let me, um, dry up first and then you can tell me what you want me to do."

Not waiting for an answer, Ranma sped off to the bathroom to change himself back into a male. _It's not like I'm going to be here for a long time _Ranma reasoned, _so he really doesn't need to know. Still note to self, get cracking on that transformation jutsu A.S.A.P._

Moments later a male Ranma emerged from the lavatory with a towel around his shoulders. His shirt was still damp, but not nearly as wet as it was before. Nodding to Yuura to begin explaining what they were going to do, Ranma began to dry off his hair and put on his shirt.

"Seeing as how you nearly bankrupted me in our last lunch together, I thought it would be best for you to earn your own money for food. Gods know that you probably won't be able to get much more after that," Yuura said, mumbling the last part. "Anyways, the village has a problem with a ninja attacking our caravans and I thought that this would be a perfect time to see what you are really capable of. If you do well, I'll show you a useful jutsu, if you do poorly, I'll see that you get a nice funeral."

Thinking it was a joke; Ranma started laughing until he saw that Yuura wasn't sharing in his mirth. "Are you serious?" he asked incredulously, his eyes wide.

Yuura started laughing, which caused Ranma to relax. "Nah, just kidding, I'd probably just throw you in a ditch somewhere." Ranma immediately tensed up again. "No need to waste any money on a no one, eh?" Again he laughed.

With a scowl, Ranma muttered, "Yeah, how very practical of you."

His goateed teacher simply continued laughing but motioned for Ranma to follow him out the door. In no time they were bounding though the city to the narrow gap in the valley they were in. Ranma would have taken in the sights, but the sights consisted of basically identical pillars of stalagmites, so he instead decided to let his attention wander. At least he would have, had he not felt the presence of three figures following them. Yuura caught his look and shook his head.

"Don't worry, they are our backup. Once you stop the missing-nin they'll see what they can find out from him."

Slightly curious, the pigtailed youth asked, "What can you learn from him? Isn't he from your village?" Meanwhile though, they had just passed through the pass and out into the open desert. A sudden breeze made Ranma realize why all the ninjas seemed to be wearing turbans, and made him wish that he had gotten one. For some strange reason, he blamed it on that green haired guy from earlier. He seemed like an asshole, and no one would probably take it too badly if he wound up unconscious in a dumpster somewhere.

Yuura had to remind himself that he was talking to someone from another dimension, and not a complete idiot. Still he used the voice that most adults reserved for little kids or the mentally challenged. "There are more villages out there. The ninja we are following was originally from the Grass Village. However, he left their village, and thus their protection so he is fair game to who ever wants to kill him. Still, the Grass Village should have been the one to kill him off, but since they didn't, we can use that to our advantage. Potentially, we can learn of their defenses, village status, and maybe even some of the village's hidden jutsu. That is what our back up is for, to find that information. We may need it should war ever erupt between our villages."

Ranma scoffed at that. "Seriously though, how likely is a war to start? You sound like it could happen at any time."

Yuura's face hardened as he spoke, "War is always likely to erupt between the villages. Sixteen years ago, there was the third secret war involving all of the shinobi villages. The Stone Village was hit the hardest, but we took a heavy toll. At the end of that war, we allied ourselves with the winners, the Leaf Village. Two years ago, we attacked them. In that battle we lost about half our forces, mostly our more talented chuunin and jounin. We still haven't recovered from that, and thankfully neither have the Sound, at that time our ally and now our enemy, nor the Leaf, our enemy then and current ally. It-"

"Wait a minute," Ranma interjected a bit loudly. "You betrayed them, and yet they still are allied with you?"

"It was one of their own missing-nins that killed our Kazekage, impersonated him, and led us against them. It was half their fault for not killing that lunatic earlier. They also understand the ninja way. There are no such things as true alliances, and that all alliances are merely ceasefires until one village feels that it can take over the other."

"A shinobi never knows peace, all he knows is the lull between wars," Ranma muttered quietly under his breath with some disgust.

Not quiet enough, because Yuura still managed to hear him, "You know shinobi saying number forty eight?" he asked suspiciously.

Instead of the guilty look he was expecting, Ranma looked sheepish. "Hope you don't mind, but I read some of your scrolls. You took so damn long that I had to find something to do. Would it kill you to have a TV in your room or something?"

"Well I usually have more important things to do and I don't even spend that long at home," he said with a slight smile as he glanced back. "It's not easy working to keep a village safe with most of the guards being rookies and spread dangerously thin, but I manage."

Ranma just had to look at the man in front of him with some measure of respect. He was dedicated to his work, and his work just happened to be safeguarding people's lives, kind of what he liked to do on occasion. _Alright, I mostly just protect Akane, but I did help out with the oni… a bit anyways. Wasn't my fault when it escaped the box again._

"Enough about me though," intoned Yuura, interrupting Ranma's internal monologue. "We still have some time before we get to the caravan we most likely suspect of being Genna's, the missing-nin, next target, so how about you tell me about your home, and how you got so good in the first place."

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It actually took them a little bit more than two hours to reach the caravan after having traveled so far that they weren't even in the desert anymore. Instead they were once again in a valley, only that the cliffs were about ten feet high and there was grass growing freely.

"- and then the Prince of the Musk returned what he had taken from me and fled back home." Ranma summed up as he finished his story with a great flourish as he set down on the ground near a cart. At some point in time, Ranma had taken the lead so that he could properly show Yuura all the gestures and facial features that were quite necessary in order to fully appreciate the stories.

"Wait, so you are telling me that he took away something precious from you, which you still haven't told me what it was, left you for dead, and you just let him stroll back home?" Yuura asked incredulously, not believing most of Ranma's story as in pretty much every other sentence he had started it off with 'Well, being the best martial artist ever, I just did…' or ending it '…after all I am the greatest martial artist!' and a laugh. It was hard to take seriously, but if some of the attacks he had said he possessed were real, then he probably wouldn't have any problem with this chuunin. Speaking of which, he still hadn't briefed him on the situation.

Cutting off a stuttering Ranma who was trying hard to find a way to not have to explain the curse, he intoned, "Never mind Ranma, I just remembered I didn't fully explain to you the missing-nin's abilities or anything."

Shrugging and stretching a bit, Ranma casually said, "Eh, I normally don't fight knowing what my opponent is going to be able to do. I should be fine either way." Stretching backwards, he saw someone on the side of the cliff looking down at them. He could kind of make out a different symbol on his forehead protector. "And I think that we also don't have any time for you explain it to me."

Yurra nodded his assent silently as Genna jumped down. "Go meet him, I'll stay here and protect both the caravan and the people. Even though I'm doing that, make you sure you keep the destruction to a minimum near the carts," he ordered having already started moving toward the defense of the people. He was barking orders at the head of the line ordering them to stop and gather together for shelter, and to leave their belonging where they were under his care.

Having already pushed Yuura and his orders out of his mind, Ranma focused solely on the ninja, intent to seeing just what exactly the people here were capable of. However, Genna, seeing that he was outnumbered had decided to flee. _That won't do at all_, thought Ranma as he jumped up the side of the cliff and settled for pursuit. He didn't have to chase him far at all, as Genna, seeing only one pursuer stopped, and turned to face him.

With a better view of who he was going up against, Ranma noted that Genna was wearing a very long and baggy brown long-sleeved shirt that reached down to his knees, and pretty much hid whatever else he had from there up. The man's face was covered by some sort of green cloth that left only his eyes exposed. His forehead protector had obviously seen better days, the scratches on the metal and tears on the cloth a testament to the harshness of the wilderness he was inhabiting. He couldn't make out any weapons on him, but as experience, and Mousse, had taught him, he wasn't going to rule out the possibility of there being one.

Genna had had enough and rushed to strike the first blow. At first he had thought the man was a ninja, but he could see that he wasn't wearing the Sand Village symbol anywhere on him, and was at most probably a Wind Country guard in training, someone who couldn't become a ninja, and yet was more skilled than the regular folk. Twin kamas emerged from the hidden depths of his sleeves as he moved to mow down his adversary, only to be caught off guard when Ranma met his charge and beat him to the punch. Sailing through the air, he quickly revised his previous assessment and decided to take it seriously. Getting his balance before he fell, the ninja returned the kama to where they came from and started to perform a jutsu. Seeing the ninja in front of him start running through a whole set of seals, Ranma recognized that this was a chance to stop him before any attack came way, and launched himself into the air with a soaring kick, only to see his target meld with the grass and ground and disappear with a cry of "Ninja Arts: Illusionary Grass River!"

Startled, Ranma sputtered in mid-air and landed near where his foe used to be. Looking around, he saw nothing suspicious. Puzzled, he knelt down to see if perhaps he used a hole in the ground, and saw the grinning face of Genna as his hands appeared from nowhere and grabbed his feet.

"Earth Element: Inner Decapitation!" was the only thing he heard as Ranma started to fall through the very earth itself, until only his head was above ground. Above him, Genna got his weapons in hand and knelt down to fulfill the promise the jutsu had made. Positioning both blades at either side of Ranma's head, Genna raised them up a bit then swung down with the intention of killing the man before him. Before the swing even reached anywhere near the fallen hero, Genna's hands were stopped by Ranma's own as they violently exited to ground, followed by his torso, followed by his legs that kicked upward under Genna's chin and sent him flipping through the air to land unceremoniously several feet away.

Brushing the dirt off his clothes, Ranma smirked at the downed opponent, only to frown again when he stood up. The green cloth that had hidden the man's face had flown free during his downward descent and made Ranma wish that he kicked the man in the chest instead. The reason only one eye was shown became instantly clear as the deep scaring surrounding the entire eye, and parts of the nose missing, lead to one conclusion. With Genna gasping for breath, his sharpened teeth were visible under thin lips.

"I wasn't going to make you suffer, but now you really give me no choice," he said in a deep rich voice that contrasted heavily with his appearance. Focusing his one good eye on Ranma, he grabbed several special kunai from his voluminous robes and sent them flying toward the gender challenged individual. Ranma plucked all eight of them straight from the air and held them between his fingers. He shot an arrogant grin to the ninja only to be met with a malicious one, and a quick glance to the kunai themselves revealed why. _Explosive seals_ he mentally panicked and through them up into the air, where they exploded with a fiery gusto. Ranma sighed in relief, until he noted that the fire wasn't dissipating.

Genna's smirk widened as he shouted out "Fire Element: Blazing Dragon Inferno!" and coalesced all the fire into the form of a vicious dragon. Snaking its way down from the sky, the dragon launched itself straight to Ranma, hitting him square in the chest…and went out though the other side. _A clone? Since when? _Genna's thoughts spun rapidly as he looked for his wayward victim. _There he is! _He mentally snickered as he made the dragon change directions to hit the hapless target…only to fly through a clone again.

With an angry grunt, Genna scanned his surroundings to discover a blur in front of him materialize as his target. Calculating the distances and vectors, Genna made the dragon fly toward Ranma's unprotected back as he made sure to keep an eye on him to distinguish his true nature.

Looking back, Ranma saw that the fire dragon was drawing closer to him faster than he could get to the ninja so he was forced to use the combination of clone and replacement jutsu he had been using previously. With the rush of speed he had come to associate with the replacement jutsu, he jumped straight above Genna for the surprise knockout blow. Genna, however, was looking straight towards him as the dragon arced upwards to engulf the martial artist.

_Shit…he has a bead on me now. He figured out what I was doing! Hmm… this seems oddly familiar somehow… ah, that's it! The battle with Saffron! The Hiryu Hyou Toppa will kill him though… but maybe if I do this instead… _Inspiration filled Ranma as he drew as much cold ki into his fist as he could and shouted "Hiryu Shoten Ha Revised: Dragon Slayer Strike!"

The fire dragon came up and swallowed him whole, much to Genna's pleasure. That pleasure was short lived as a blue glow came from within his chakra creation and cleaved it in half. Inside the dragon, Ranma was manipulating the air currents as to have them blowing at his back as he went through the entirety of the construct and, buffeted by the winds, exited to strike down on the stunned ninja. The blow hit Genna straight on the jaw, instantly felling him, as the winds around Ranma dispersed with great fanfare.

With the ninja crumpled and lying face down before him, Ranma gave himself a quick pat on the back, and looked around to see if anyone had seen his victory so he could brag. The sound of clapping drew his attention as he saw Yuura walking over to him with a grin so wide he could barely tell where his mouth ended. Walking over to meet his sensei halfway, he noted that his facial expression had suddenly changed from elation to panic. Looking around for any other foe, Ranma was drawn back to the man at his feet by a very sickening 'thud' sound. There, in the back of the man's head, was a kunai sticking out.

"Why di-" he started only to be cut off by a backhand from the man he had started to call teacher.

"What were you thinking! Why didn't you kill him? Do you know how close you came to dying!" Yuura shouted directly into his face.

Under the assault of so many questions Ranma could only utter a simplistic, "Wha?"

Instead of responding with words, Yuura pointed to the body, where the trio of hunter-nins were already getting ready for their work. The first thing they did remove the kunai from the back of his head, and then flip him over. There, a large cluster of explosive seals were found on his chest.

"He was going to use those to blow himself up and anything within twenty feet, like where we are now," Yuura whispered softly. "This isn't your world, we do things differently here, it's not at all like what you are accustomed to."

Ranma turned around to give Yuura a piece of his mind…or rather he tried to, instead he was stuck in place, staring at the hunter-nins as they surgically removed certain key organs for the medic-nins back in the Sand Village to study.

"Don't struggle, you are under the paralyzing jutsu, all you would be doing is wasting energy. I thought it best for you to see this. This is what we do to the enemies we defeat. We don't let them go, we don't let them have the chance to become bigger threats or continue murdering our people."

The hunter-nins were skilled at what they did, but that doesn't mean that they aren't messy about it. It also doesn't mean that they are quick about it either.

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It was a long and awkward trip back to the Sand Village, with no one speaking a word to each other, and the constant clinking of the glass jars bumping into each other. They made it back relatively quicker than they left, mostly due to Ranma being in the lead, and his desire to run away from the containments of the jars.

Finally getting to the Kazekage Tower, Ranma stopped, as did the rest of the posse. Yuura ordered the hunter-nins to take the jars in, and then turned to Ranma.

"We need to talk," he said simply.

Anger flared in his eyes as Ranma made eye contact with Yuura. "You're goddamn right we do," he growled.

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The hunter-nins were walking back from the main hospital after a job well done, and were headed to get their pay.

"Hey, what did you guys think about that guy's story of the dragon kid?" one suddenly piped up.

The other two shared a nod as one said, "Dude, it was all probably just a load of bullshit."

The first one nodded, and all having reached an agreement then decided to get stone cold drunk after having to do such grizzly work.


End file.
